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A small founding group
Only about five cities or regional clusters will be in the first cohort.
Programs · Early Round: 2027 Cohort
Turn your city’s clean air ambition into action
This fall we are inviting a small group of cities to build ambitious, durable clean-air projects for children from early childhood through high school, and to become the national examples others follow.
- ~5 citiesor regional clusters in the first cohort
- Fall 2027cleaner air in classrooms and child care rooms
- 1–3 yearsof partnership, depending on scope
- This fallit starts with a conversation
A national cohort for clean classroom air
Why join now
We are approaching cities that already have committed leaders, relevant local initiatives, strong institutions and a clear chance to build momentum. Together, we aim to have cleaner air in early childhood settings and classrooms as school opens in fall 2027.
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A hand in the design
Founding partners help shape the program: the timeline, the supports, and how the cohort works together.
03
A national stage
Early cities become the examples others follow, with a spring 2027 convening and communications support to tell their story.
04
Cleaner air by fall 2027
Cities that start this fall can have cleaner classroom air in place when school opens in 2027.
The cohort
One national cohort, many kinds of air
What makes indoor air unhealthy varies across the country. A cohort that spans regions produces solutions that work in many places, and every city learns from the others. A seat can be one city or a regional cluster of smaller districts sharing capacity.
AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
RI
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
HI
TX
FL
- PacificWildfire smoke, plus traffic near freeways and ports
- Mountain WestWildfire smoke and winter inversions that trap pollution in valleys
- Midwest & Great LakesAging school buildings, smoke that travels from distant fires, and summer heat
- Northeast & Mid-AtlanticSome of the oldest school buildings and HVAC systems, dense traffic corridors, and high childhood asthma rates in some cities
- SouthHeat and humidity that keep buildings closed and strain HVAC, moisture and mold, and traffic and industrial corridors
Regions are illustrative. The drivers shown are common patterns, not a description of any one city.
What you get
A working partnership
The aim is to close the gap between a compelling opportunity and a fundable, implementation-ready project.
What the partnership unlocks
- A stronger projectShaped around local priorities, existing assets and a clear path to results.
- A ready coalitionCity, school-system, public-health, facilities, community and funding partners around a shared plan.
- A funding pathwayA defined investment case, with aligned local and national philanthropy pursued together.
- A durable modelOwnership, operations, measurement, policy and budget pathways built in from the start.
What Inspired Air brings
- Tailored technical assistanceProject development, technical and implementation planning, procurement, measurement and operations.
- Coalition and fundraising supportHelp strengthening alignment, defining the investment case, and pursuing resources together.
- A small peer cohortCross-sector experts, shared learning, and an in-person working session in spring 2027.
- Strategic communicationsSupport building local momentum and making your city’s leadership visible beyond its borders.
Timeline
From first conversation to cleaner classrooms
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We are here
Fall 2026
Exploratory conversations
A few collaborative calls to understand local priorities, what is already in place, and whether the fit is right.
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Early 2027
National cohort confirmed
A founding group of cities, districts, charter networks and early childhood networks, plus funders, is set.
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Spring 2027
In-person cohort convening
City, district, charter and early childhood teams meet each other and national experts, and sharpen their local plans.
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Late summer–fall 2027
Clean air where children learn
Filtration goes into classrooms and child care rooms as the school year opens.
Then: implementation and shared learning. The partnership runs at least one year and no more than three, depending on the approach and scope of the first project.
Target timeline. Dates and cadence will be set with partners as the cohort takes shape.
What participation involves
How we start, and what we ask
The program is still taking shape, and founding partners will help set many of the details.
How we would start
With a small number of collaborative conversations to define the local opportunity, understand what is already in place, identify gaps, and decide together whether it is a fit.
What we ask of partners
Committed local leadership; the right cross-sector partners; willingness to build an implementation-ready, sustainable plan; and taking part in shared learning, measurement and storytelling.
Common questions
Early Round participation
What are you looking for in a partner city?
Two things. First, leadership interest from the mayor’s office and from one or more school districts, charter networks or early childhood networks (such as Head Start grantees, child care networks or a city early childhood office), and potentially other agencies such as health and environment.
Second, readiness to implement in 2027: could you and your partners have cleaner air in some classrooms and child care rooms by fall 2027? It takes local capacity, but you don’t need extra staff already in place to be a strong fit.
How much funding could a place expect?
Funding is sized to each local plan. We are now matching cohort places with funders, and because that funding is not yet in hand, we are not quoting award amounts to specific places.
For planning: clean classroom air costs roughly $1,000 per classroom to put in place and about $5–10 per student per year to keep running. Hundreds of thousands of dollars could cover a whole small district, charter network or early childhood network. A small-to-medium city might need $1–2 million to cover all its K–12 schools. Larger cities would more likely start with a meaningful pilot and a clear path to scale.
In early conversations we ask two questions: what would a meaningful first phase cost, and what would you do with more? Then we build the funding case together.
Who needs to be involved?
The mayor’s office and at least one implementing partner: a school district, a charter network, an early childhood network, or a combination. Leadership ownership within those partners matters most. Public health, facilities, licensing and community partners strengthen the plan.
Who does the work locally?
Each place names a person responsible for the work. Where that role sits is up to local leadership, and grant funds could support a staff person or stipend if there is a plan to sustain that capacity afterward. We will shape the time commitment and meeting cadence together.
Can your city lead the way?
Can your city become a national leader in demonstrating what clean air for every child can look like? The first step is a conversation.